Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a method thereof, an information processing system, and a computer-readable storage medium and, more particularly, to a medical image display technique.
Description of the Related Art
On a medical scene, imaging of a patient is performed using a medical imaging apparatus such as an X-ray CT (computed tomography) apparatus, an MRI (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging) apparatus, or a PET (positron emission tomography) apparatus. CT is short for Computed Tomography, MRI is short for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and PET is short for Positron Emission Tomography. Medical images are created by performing various kinds of image processing for image data obtained by imaging and saved in a data server in the hospital for a predetermined period. As for the image diagnosis operation of a doctor, a target medical image is searched for using a medical image display apparatus (also called a viewer) and displayed on a monitor, and the image diagnosis is conducted using various functions of the medical image display apparatus. The doctor records the result of the image diagnosis as an interpretation report.
When referring to the recorded interpretation report, the user refers to it while associating the medical image with the description contents of the interpretation report. However, it is sometimes difficult to easily specify a position on the medical image represented by the description contents of the interpretation report. In addition, the user needs a time to refer to the interpretation report while associating the two pieces of information, that is, the medical image and the interpretation report with each other.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-083590 describes displaying, on a medical image, the information of a morbid portion described in an interpretation report. According to this arrangement, a character string in an interpretation report is linked with a position on a medical image indicated by the character string, and the character string is displayed near the position. Hence, the user can correctly grasp the position on the medical image indicated by the character string described in the interpretation report and correctly refer to the interpretation report without taking a time.
In the arrangement of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-083590, however, the position of the character string displayed on the medical image is determined without considering the anatomical structure or the contents of the interpretation report. For this reason, the character string is sometimes overlaid at an anatomically important position on the medical image or at a position on the medical image related to the contents of the interpretation report. In this case, the user can hardly confirm the anatomical structure or the contents of the interpretation report on the medical image.